Optimization and Experiment of a Disturbance-Assisted Seed Filling High-Speed Vacuum Seed-Metering Device Based on DEM-CFD
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Line 17: Use groove depth instead of the groove only.
Line 22-23: Please add numeric values.
Line 24: “The pressurization effect of the arc-shaped seed disk hole is better.” Please justify with numeric values
Line 26-27: “Through the verification experiment, it proved that the working performance of the optimized seed metering device is better than that of the original one.” Please justify with numeric values.
Line 36-38: “At present, China's urbanization process is accelerating, rapid development of large-scale agricultural production and agricultural production labor is in short suppl, which affects the yield of maize.” Please rewrite the sentence.
Line 44-46: Please add the reference.
Line 50-53: “When the working negative pressure is the same and the plant distance is 20cm, compared with the working speed less than 8km/h, working speed is 8-14km/h, the rotational speed of the seed disk increased and the seed filling time decreased, resulting in an increase in the leakage rate.” Please rewrite the sentence.
Line 54-55: “So it is necessary to necessary to increase the working negative pressure to ensure the qualified rate of seed filling.” Please rewrite the sentence.
Line 55: Please add the data about leakage rate and qualified rate of seed disk you are going to modify. This means before modification what was the value of leakage rate and qualified rate of the original seed disk.
Line 84: Please add the data about FLUENT software in the introduction as you added the data about DEM-CFD.
Line 96-98: Please add the reference.
Line 156-158: Please add the reference.
Line 159-160: Please add the reference.
Line 160-161: Explain the reason why you used this theory?
Line 165: What is the value of arc radius? From where do you select that value?
Line 171: Please provide references and additional information (e.g., maize variety, seed distribution company …etc.). In my opinion, nowadays, mostly more than 95% of uniform-size seeds are available in the markets due to competition between seed distribution companies.
Line 173: Please provide the pressure value, which means at what pressure it is difficult for an air-suction type seed metering device to suck horse-tooth shape maize seeds.
Line 178: What is Mach Number? And add the reference.
Line 181-183: Please provide the reference.
Line 188-190: Please use length word instead of thickness or vice versa.
Line 192-193: Please provide the reference.
Line 198-199: Why you used this condition, please add some explanation.
Line 205-206: Please add the reference.
Line 307: Please explain why you select this condition (5.4 mm and 5 mm) and justify through reference and explain more about the effect of high-pressure difference or low-pressure difference on stability. Also, explain about coefficient of variation in this section.
Line 357-361: Figures 11a and 12a show that pressure and velocity distribution is more uniform in cylindrical shape seed disk holes. Then why do you select arc-shape seed disk hole? Please explain more.
Line 363: Please add more information about the selection of the 5.4 mm inlet diameter. You do not add negative pressure at the outlet and do not mention the average pressure difference for all inlet diameters.
Line 372: What about other diameters. Is this the same or different?
Required minor improvement in English grammar and also improvement is required in the introduction and material and methodology section, but the overall paper is good
Author Response
I am very grateful to the experts for their good suggestions on the shortcomings of this paper. Based on the suggestions of experts, this article has been revised, which are shown in the attachment.
Line 24: “The pressurization effect of the arc-shaped seed disk hole is better.” Please justify with numeric values.
Line 26-27: “Through the verification experiment, it proved that the working performance of the optimized seed metering device is better than that of the original one.” Please justify with numeric values.
With regard to the above two questions, the expert proposed that it is necessary to increase the proof value, because the abstract requires no more than 250 words, and it is necessary to summarize the main research results and discoveries, so only the conclusions of the study are put forward. As for the proof value, it belongs to the research content. For example, why choose the arc-shaped seed disk hole, because under different working negative pressures, the pressure difference is the highest. If the listed value ,which can only list the pressure difference under each limited working negative pressure, the content will increase. which does not meet the abstract requirements. If the differential pressure value under a certain working negative pressure is listed separately, it will make readers mistakenly think that the seed metering device in this article can only work under certain limited conditions. Regarding the optimized seed metering device is better than that of the original one, also because each working condition corresponds to a set of results, If the listed value can only list the numeric values under each limited working conditions, the content will increase. Based on the above considerations, only conclusions are written about these two parts in the abstract.
Line 44-46: Please add the reference.
About this sentence: High-performance high-speed precision seeding equipment is the basis for realizing advanced seeding technology has provided reference.
About this sentence: The Vacuum Seed metering device relies on negative pressure to pick up one seed and carry it out of bulk. It is then discharged into a seed tube. It belongs to the general working process, which is relatively simple and well-known for a long time, so there is no reference added in the article.
Line 55: Please add the data about leakage rate and qualified rate of seed disk you are going to modify. This means before modification what was the value of leakage rate and qualified rate of the original seed disk.
The content of this sentence in the text is mainly to show what problem is solved by what means. In addition, considering that the leakage rate and qualified rate of the seed disk are related to the working speed and working pressure, we can not only talk about the leakage rate and qualified rate according to a specific working parameter. In the following, the leakage rate and qualified rate of the original seeding plate are shown through the comparative test, so as to indicate the leakage rate and qualified rate to be modified in this paper.
Line 165: What is the value of arc radius? From where do you select that value?
When D1, D2 and L are known values, the chord length Ek can be obtained. drawing a tangent arc with the straight line EK as the chord length, where the arc is tangent to the straightly line QE at point E, an arc with a radius r is obtained. In the three-dimensional drawing software SOLIDWORKS, when the chord length and tangent are known, the arc can be drawn by using the tangent arc command, meanwhile the diameter of the arc can be known at the same time.
Line 171: Please provide references and additional information (e.g., maize variety, seed distribution company …etc.). In my opinion, nowadays, mostly more than 95% of uniform-size seeds are available in the markets due to competition between seed distribution companies.
Classification of main Maize varieties in China in references，for example ：《An approach to and validation of maize-seed-assembly modelling based on the discrete element method.》《A study on the modelling method of maize -seed particles based on the discrete element method》, The summary is as follows Tab.1.
Tab.1 Maize seed characteristic size
|
Variety |
Feature size |
|
||
|
Length /mm |
Width/mm |
Thickness/mm |
||
|
LiangYu335 |
7.17~12.2 |
7.51~8.53 |
4.8~8.29 |
|
|
XianYu99 |
7.44~11.54 |
7.64~8.61 |
5.18~8.04 |
|
|
ZhengDan958 |
8.91~10.68 |
7.2~8.15 |
5.72~7.42 |
|
|
JiPing1 |
11.4~12.36 |
7.52~9.19 |
5.17~6.75 |
|
|
PingAn11 |
11.46~12.29 |
8.3~9.0 |
5.25~6.74 |
|
Line 173: Please provide the pressure value, which means at what pressure it is difficult for an airsuction type seed metering device to suck horse-tooth shape maize seeds.
The meaning of this sentence in the text is derived from literature 13. For maize seeds of different shapes, by analyzing the variation law of the drag force and speed during the suck process, it is found that the horse-tooth shape maize seeds are the most difficult to be sucked. There is no description in the literature that under a certain pressure value, the horse-tooth shape maize seeds are difficult to be sucked.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
The paper is well written and scientifically sound.
However I would suggest to the authors to improve the discussion. It should be expanded and a comparison with the literature included.
Please find below some specific comments:
the keywords shouldn't be included in the title
line 54 typing error "necessary to necessary"
line 99 please explain "zhong-shaped"
Good luck for your paper.
Author Response
I am very grateful to the experts for their good suggestions on the shortcomings of this paper. Based on the suggestions of experts, this article has been revised as follows:
the keywords shouldn't be included in the title
Answer: Based on expert advice, Keywords have been modified, lines 32,33 in the article
line 54 typing error "necessary to necessary"
Answer: Based on expert advice, The sentence pattern error has been modified, line 52 in the article
line 99 please explain "zhong-shaped"
Answer: Based on expert advice, I have added an explanation for "zhong-shaped", lines 101~104 in the article.
However I would suggest to the authors to improve the discussion. It should be expanded and a comparison with the literature included.
Answer: Based on expert advice, I've added comparisons with literature included, lines 507~509 in the article.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
In this paper, the Fluent numerical analysis method was used to simulate the influence of the shape, inlet diameter, and length of the suction hole on the airflow field. In addition, the DEM-CFD coupling method was used to explore the effects of groove depth, working negative pressure, and seeder forward speed on the working performance of the seed metering device. The study presents a topic of relevance for the readers of the journal, but however, it requires revision. The comments and suggestions are given in the attached file.
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
Author Response
I am very grateful to the experts for their good suggestions on the shortcomings of this paper. Based on the suggestions of experts, this article has been revised, which are shown in the attachment. Regarding the structural parameter value in line 110 of the article, it is determined based on the design of the seed disk in the early stage. This part of the design content has been written into a paper and has been accepted by the Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Machinery, but it has not been officially published. So directly listed in this article. At present, foreign experts seldom show the research on the seed metering device in the form of papers, while Chinese scholars have mostly published papers on seed metering devices, some of which are published in Chinese journals and some in foreign language journals, so Chinese literatures are mostly in the references. But according to the suggestions of experts, I have added several articles about foreign scholars adopting DEM-CFD method for research design in the references.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
This manuscript is a resubmission of an earlier submission. The following is a list of the peer review reports and author responses from that submission.
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Review Report:
Journal Name and Manuscript ID: Agriculture-1778031
Title: Optimization and Experiment of Disturbance-assisted seed filling High-speed Air-suction Seed metering device Based on DEM-CFD
Type of manuscript: Article
Authors: Rui Liu, Zhongjun Liu, Jiale Zhao, Qi Lu, Lijin Liu, Yinghang Li
Submitted to Section: Agricultural Technology
Special Issue: Sustainable Farm Equipment for Field Management: Recent Trends and Future Perspectives
GENERAL EVALUATION:
The manuscript titled as “Optimization and Experiment of Disturbance-assisted seed filling High-speed Air-suction Seed metering device Based on DEM-CFD” deals with the optimization and bench testing of an air-suction seed metering device with different seed suction hole parameters. The subject of the paper is suitable to the journal and the special issue.
Seeding is very important that affects the crop development and yield. Air-suction based seeders are used in high extent especially for row crops. The seeder performance is influenced by many factors. The double seed-ratio and missing seed ratio must be minimized. The authors studied the effect of hole parameters on the seeding performance using both DEM-CFD optimization and also laboratory bench experiment. The experiment was designed well and suitable in terms of the aim of the study. However, I have some concerns and suggested corrections. I recommend publishing of the paper after major revision.
My main concerns are given below:
1) The study is conducted only in the “controlled” laboratory bench conditions. It is desired to see the results of the test in real field conditions. Authors at least should discuss the validity of the results in field conditions in the Discussion section.
2) Figure 16 and Equations 8-9-10 should be removed and included into the Results section. The “Discussion” section should concentrate on the commenting of the study findings. Also, the findings were not compared with the findings of the previous related studies (some of them are listed in the Reference section).
3) A space must be provided before the units. This is a common mistake throughout the manuscript. Another common problem is that usage of comma before “and” is not necessary where “and” is used to connect two sentences. These punctuation errors must be corrected.
4) In general, the writing style and the use of English language can be considered as satisfactory. There are moderate shortcomings.
5) Manuscript needs moderate revision in terms of English writing style and grammar. I included some of them below.
6) All acronyms must have been spelled out the first time they are mentioned in the Abstract and other sections. All of them must be checked in the paper. Acronyms used in tables and figures must be given in the figure itself or in the figure captions and under the tables.
7) I listed some additional corrections, recommendations and questions below for the authors to improve the manuscript.
TITLE
Title can be more specific to highlight the studied parameters (seed plate hole parameters).
ABSTRACT
Line 24: Replace "It is found" with "It was found".
INTRODUCTION
Line 41: Please clarify or rephrase this term: "rural land circulation is concentrated"
Line 58: Provide the full name for DEM-CFD. Check and correct other acronyms. Give full name for any acronym where it is used firstly.
Lines 69, 81: Delete "method".
Line 80: Replace ";" with "."
Line 81: Replace "The" with "the".
Line 89: Add "." after Figure 1. Begin the new sentence with "Seed plate..."
Line 124: Confirm the units in Equation 3 are correct: N = KN/m3 * m
Line 128: Do you mean "kilo newton"? if so, use kN, not KN.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Line 133: Give sample references in "According to previous research"
Line 145: Please clarify or rephrase this term: "On the basic of shape"
Line 148: Replace "The" with "the".
Lines 149-151: Leave a space between the number and unit. Check and correct all others in other parts of the paper.
Line 165: This is not a complete sentence. Is it a subtitle? If so, use a different format (underline, etc.) or numbered subtitle.
Lines 165-172: Too long sentence. Partition it.
Line 175: Give a more meaningful title for Table 1.
Line 183: The unit of pressure is given as "Pa". Shouldn't it be "kPa"?
Line 185-186: Provide the full name for SCDM and ICEM. Check and correct other acronyms. Give full name for any acronym where it is used firstly.
Line 211: Provide a horizontal line between "solid phase" and gas phase".
Line 211: Table 3: Is it "dynamic" or "kinematic" viscosity?
Line 217: Add "." before "First".
Line 218: Check the sentence grammar.
Line 236-237: Give the meanings of all terms in the Eq.5 (P,x,g,v,etc.).
Line 245: Replace "weight" with "mass" ("gram" is a unit of mass).
Line 253: Check the subtitle "Experimental index experiment method"?
Line 259: Change to "N is the number of theoretical seeding holes"
Line 261-262: Check the sentence grammar (not a complete sentence).
Line 268: Provide the version number, company name, city, country for the SPSS software.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Lines 292, 311, 320, 394: Leave a space before the subtitle.
Line 312: Replace "when" with "When".
Figures 10-11-12-13-14-15: Axis label fonts are too small, use bigger font.
Figures 13: Use a more discerning color (like black) instead of "fuchsia".
Line 343: Replace "Under" with "under".
Lines 342-347: Too long sentence. Partition it.
Lines 369-374: Too long sentence. Partition it.
Table 6: Delete all "/"s before the units.
Line 419: Give the meanings of all terms in the Eq.8-9-10 (p,v,,A,c,etc.).
CONCLUSIONS
Line 466: Delete comma.
Lines 467-468: A space must be provided before the units
REFERENCES
Check the format of the references. Use standard form.
In some references, the first letters of the title are capital letters (No:1,2,4,etc.)
In some references, the first letters of the title are small letters (No:3,5,6,etc.)
In some references, are they journal article, book or what? (No:1,2,3,4,5,etc.). If they are article, provide volume and page numbers, etc.
In reference no 31, check the format.
(end)
Author Response
Dear expert，
I am very grateful to the expert for their good suggestions on the shortcomings of this paper. Many thanks to the experts who have made meticulous revisions to the words, grammar and sentences in this article.For the convenience of viewing, it will be shown to you in the form of an attachment. Thank you for reviewing it again.
Kind regards，
Rui Liu
Submitter
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Review
Optimization and Experiment of Disturbance-assisted seed filling High-speed Air-suction Seed metering device Based on 3 DEM-CFD
Title – use standard terminology in title and body of report. Refer to standards such as ASABE S506 OCT2010 (R2019) Terminology and Definitions for Planters, Drills and Seeders
Here are some relevant terms:-
Pneumatic seed meter: A device that utilizes air pressure differential for metering individual seeds from a seed hopper and sequentially delivering them to a seed delivery tube.
Singulating seed meter: A device for metering individual seeds from a seed hopper and sequentially delivering them to a seed delivery tube.
Row unit: The row unit is typically a combination of ground engaging tool and depth control components for each seed row, and typically has a singulating seed meter for each row unit.
Vacuum seed meter http://salesmanual.deere.com/sales/salesmanual/en_NA/seeding/2010/feature/metering/deereplanter/vacuum_seed_meter.html
Vacuum meter seed disks
Hence revise title and text using standard terms.
The abstract is a little longer than the desired 250 words. Make shorter using standard terms. Need to define high speed, what speed is it? Define desired travel speed, desired seed spacing and hence desired number of seeds per second.
1. Introduction
Be specific with aim of speed and spacing and what seed is being studied.
Define errors from missed seeds and multiple seeds. Describe implications of these. Define calculation of accuracy.
Use standard terminology
Explain why study chose to use Maize seeds
2. Describe working of vacuum seeder and its components.
Show how vacuum is applied and released.
Add front view for Figure 1 and show air path
Include on Figure 1 other features later mentioned – groove etc
Add size of seed plate and number of holes.
Relate the seed size and geometry to the hole and grooves.
For Figure 3 define how the arc was placed.
Air flow needs to be better defined in paper. Is flow without the seed being present. IS seed closing the hole or is their leakage. How do doubles result and how do they sit over the hole.
It is not clear which results are for simulation and the other for testing. Be clear on what is important is it sowing rate, missed locations or wasted seed on doubles.
Use of adsorption does not seem appropriate. Is it seed pick up?
What was 50 seeds used for modelling or testing at line 261.
It is not clear what is groove depth. Need a clear image to define.
Be clear that results only apply to the seed used. How would other seed type effect seed plate design.
I could not yet see link between parameters and performance due to poor use of terminology.
The authors are encouraged to revise and resubmit work using standard terminology, justifications for selections and provide an understanding/implications of the results.
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
Author Response
Dear expert,
I am very grateful to the expert for their good suggestions on the shortcomings of this paper. Many thanks to the experts who have made meticulous revisions to the words, grammar and sentences in this article. According to the guidance of experts, I have made detailed revisions to the paper, and the revised content will be presented to you in the form of attachments.
Kind regards
Rui Liu
Submitter
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
The title needs to be revised to clearly state topic of paper.
Optimisation of seed disc hole of vacuum seed metering device.
Abstract
The first sentence is not understandable. Explain the context and the problem.
Line 40 - 42 – precision planting using vacuum seeders that precisely space the seeds is giving increased yields (add reference). The performance of precision planters decreases as planting speed increases (add reference). Aim is to have precision planter that can operate at up to 14 km/h rather than 5 km/h.
Line 210 – remove reference to high speed.
Line 211 – negative pressure is used to pick up one seed and carry it out of bulk. It is then discharged into a seed tube.
Line 213 need to refer to normal speed (5 km/h and 20 cm spacing) and effect of increasing speed. Is there less picked up. To improve increase pressure and improve hole shape. Is pressure loss a problem or just a parameter?
Line 221, 223 replace can with has
Line 239 introduces the term of disturbance assistance but this is not explained. Why is this relevant. Work seems to be on pressure and shape of hole to attach single seed.
Line 245 introduces a term groove assisted filling which has not been explained. All this background needs to go into introduction.
I suggest explain the background and problem in introduction and leave the solution to later.
Section 2.
Figure 1 shows a normal vacuum seeder with a round hole. Need to show portion where vacuum is applied and where seed is discharged. Image needs to show upper and lower scraper. Do these just remove doubles? Airflow path is not shown, but label is present.
More explanation and of seed hole and terms is needed. Refer to image that relates to Figure 1..
Line 293 the disc is rotating (not about to rotate) rotation disc draws a seed against the hole. (not absorbed). Negative pressure holds seed against hole. There is friction with other seeds which may dislodge seed.
Line 297 reword how do grooves separate seeds? Results of action comes later from your observations. Need to talk of design reasoning. Later you talk of performance and if reasoning is validated.
Line 302 singles, doubles and missed should be defined in introduction as this is requirement to have single and less missed and doubles. Explain what allows singles and doubles.
Line 306 reword as I cannot understand how a groove can drag the seed. I cannot even identify groove in Figure 2 or the hole. Need to also define maize seed shape and size relative to the hole.
Line 308 mentions a stable seed, but I cannot see this for each hole in Figure 2. Much better description required.
Line 332 I do not understand the bit about seed moving in groove. Images needed. Move from where to where. What about seed orientation effects as the seed is not a sphere.
Line 350 what is high leakage rate? Do you mean missed seed? What does this have to do with speed. Need to talk of rpm of disc and relate to ground speed.
Line 352 It is not clear of the relationship between hole and grooves. Better explanation needed.
Figure 3. Need to relate hole size and shape to the seed size and shape also.
Line 364 need to show examples of seed shapes.
Line 366 add and image of the hole and seed proportions.
Line 488 how does the groove affect seed filling? Groove and hole geometry is not defined. Where is groove location, profile and depth shown? Much work needed to make clear to reader.
Table 2. If your hypothesis is that high speed gives worse performance you should use a control of say a speed of 5 km/h to show it is okay at slow speed.
Figure 4. Where is the groove. More explanation needed.
Line 678 – not a dense seed group. Just bulk seeds. May be appropriate to mention bulk density. It is quite loose seeds as they are being aerated by rotating disc.
Line 690 needs to provide full definition of the seed disc, holes and grooves plus rotating speed.
What is leakage rate = missed rate?
What is multiple rate = double?. Use same terms throughout paper.
Was the upper and lower plates used as shown in Figure 1.
Line 725 what is 120 seed holes. Was this video was analysed for 120 consecutive holes. why not more data?
731 use petter term than absorbed. – seed carried over?
Line 882 use better description than suck seeds. You are only talking of airflow through hole and not seed pick up. This is another aspect.
Line 888 need to define leakage rate. Under what situation is this? Still don’t know where is groove. No groove shown in Figure 14.
Figure 14 what is fuscia? Green?
Line 1030 - tests were not done less than 12 km/h Not clear what was effect of low to high speed.
Line 1037 do you mean picking up time? How is this defined.
Interesting work, but must reject it as the authors are still not clear on what they have done and why. There is no reference to modelled performance at slow speed to show a need for a design and an improvement when operating at high speed. Need to show poor performance when using at high speed and then how it is improved with new design. Then can say what the improvement is.
Authors must collaborate with people to get paper to standard worthy of reviewers time. This is just not up to standard.
